Lords Debate (23 July 2007)
Lords accept Commons amendment (see below) in which the application of the offence to deaths in custody becomes an "integral part of the offence". Government says that the "timetable that the Government will aim for [when the offence will apply to deaths in custody] will be the three-year period."

Commons Debate (18 July, 2007)
The Government tabled a new amendment that meant that, on the face of the bill, the new offence would apply to deaths in custody - though in order for it it to apply to deaths in custody there would have to be a further resolution to be agreed by both houses ('positive resolution procedure'). This has the effect of allowing the Government to delay when the offence would actually apply to deaths in custody

In the previous government amendment, the offence did not, on the face of the bill, apply to deaths in custody - but the Government had the power to pass a positive resolution allowing it to apply.

This distinction may appear to be a subtle one - but it is significant.The Government have committed themselves to passing the resolution: the Rt. Hon. Jack Straw M.P. Minister for Justice stated in the debate in the Commons on the same day that "Neither I nor any other Minister proposes to add this duty to the Bill with the cynical idea that it will not be activated."

In the same debate the Minister stated that the Government intended that the offence should apply to deaths in custody "something between five and seven years. I also believe that we should work on the basis of implementing the extension within an earlier time frame if at all possible."

The Liberal and the Conservative parties stated that they thought that this was period should be shorter.

Commons Debate (16 May, 2007)
The Bill came back to the Commons with disagreement on one key part of the bill - whether the offence should apply to deaths in custody. The Commons rejected the Lords amendment
and instead passed another amendment that gave the minister
the power to pass an order, anytime in the future,
that would allow the offence to apply to these custody
deaths. Such an order would however need to be voted
on in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

This
report looks at extent to which the Government
Bill fails to comply with the European Convention
on Human Rights, principally due to its
exemptions dealing with public bodies.
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